The cartoon shows a group of forensic experts examining the King Richard's bones in the lab. The skull speaks saying, "A hearse, a hearse - my kingdom for a hearse." Which causes one of the experts to comment, "They are Richard III's bones ..."

EXPLANATIONTo understand this joke, you have to know your Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's play Richard III, at the climax of the battle of Bosworth Field, Richard is unhorsed, and cries out, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" (one of the bard's best-known lines). Using a play on words, the cartoonist has changed "horse" to "hearse", because a hearse is a large car used to carry a dead body in a coffin at a funeral. Richard is telling us that he wants to be laid to rest, rather than laid out on a table in a lab.

The cartoon shows a group of forensic experts examining the King Richard's bones in the lab. The skull speaks saying, "A hearse, a hearse - my kingdom for a hearse." Which causes one of the experts to comment, "They are Richard III's bones ..."

EXPLANATIONTo understand this joke, you have to know your Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's play Richard III, at the climax of the battle of Bosworth Field, Richard is unhorsed, and cries out, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" (one of the bard's best-known lines). Using a play on words, the cartoonist has changed "horse" to "hearse", because a hearse is a large car used to carry a dead body in a coffin at a funeral. Richard is telling us that he wants to be laid to rest, rather than laid out on a table in a lab.